Photos

Pont Sarn, roughly translated into English as Causeway Bridge spans the Afon Taf Fechan where it cuts deeply through the limestone of the area. Situated just to the north east of Merthyr Tydfil it shows two of the main elements that lead to the industrialisation of Merthyr.

In the middle of the 18th century several ironworks were constructed in and around Merthyr due to the abundance of water, limestone, iron ore, wood for charcoal and later coal. By the mid 19th century Merthyr was the largest iron producing town in the world. It was from Merthyr that the first ever steam train made it's maiden journey pulling pig iron and around 70 people from Pendarren Iron Works to the Glamorgan Canal at Abercynon, a distance of 9 miles, in February 1804.

About a mile downsteam from these falls the limestone was worked supplying the ironworks of Cyfarthfa. Hard to believe that such beauty can lie just a stone's throw away from such industrial carnage.